30 Best Soviet War Movies

Hard fates and unbroken spirit, fear of death and heroism for life, and unconditional faith in the Victory in our selection of Soviet war movies. Soviet films are different from modern films. Often created with the participation of eyewitnesses of war events, the films keep the living memory and accurately convey the atmosphere of the harsh days.

Father of a Soldier

• Rating IMDB – 8.4
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1964
• Directed by Rezo Chkheidze
• Cast: Sergo Zakariadze, Vladimir Privaltsev, Alexander Nazarov, Alexander Lebedev, Yuri Drozdov, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Viktor Uralsky, Keto Bochorashvili, Vladimir Pitsek, Pyotr Lyubeshkin

The summer of 1942. An elderly wine-growing peasant from Georgia goes to visit his wounded son in the hospital. While George was on his way, his son recovered and went back to the front. The old father decides to stay in the army. He is taken as an infantryman, and together with other soldiers he walks the roads of the war all the way to Germany.

The prototype of the main character was a colleague of the film’s scriptwriter, Suliko Zhgenti. He said that the elderly collective farmer who served with them was respected in the unit. The old man helped and supported the young soldiers, was like a father to them. The scriptwriter named the main character Georgy Makharashvili after the old fellow soldier.

Seventeen Moments of Spring

• Rating IMDB – 8.8
• Genre: War, drama, adventure, history
• USSR production / 1973
• Directed by Tatiana Lioznova
• Cast: Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Leonid Bronevoi, Ekaterina Gradova, Rostislav Plyatt, Oleg Tabakov, Evgeny Evstigneev, Otto Melis, Leonid Kuravlyov, Konstantin Zheldin, Mikhail Zharkovskiy

Events are unfolding in Germany, World War II is drawing to a close. Soviet spy Colonel Maxim Isayev is infiltrated into the upper echelons of Nazi power – for all he is Standartenfuhrer SS Stirlitz. The scout is given the task of disrupting the planned negotiations on a separate peace between Nazi Germany on the one hand and the United States and Great Britain on the other.

The film was so popular that director Tatyana Lioznova received 12 bags of letters from viewers, and she read each of the letters.

Some Old Men Are Going to Battle

• Rating IMDB – 8.3
• Genre: War, drama, comedy
• USSR production / 1973
• Budget: $500,000
• Director by Leonid Bykov
• Cast: Leonid Bykov, Sergei Podgorny, Sergei Ivanov, Rustam Sagdullaev, Evgenia Simonova, Olga Mateshko, Vladimir Talashko, Alexei Smirnov, Viktor Miroshnichenko, Grigory Gladiy

One of the best Soviet war movies is about Soviet fighter pilots. Captain Titarenko’s squadron is known as a singing squadron. In between missions the fighters play in an amateur orchestra, and Titarenko acts as a conductor. That’s how he was nicknamed – the maestro.

The newly arrived young pilots are called yolkies and are not allowed into the fight immediately, because they received accelerated training, they still have a lot to learn. The old guys, who were at the front more than a day, are another matter.

Leonid Bykov, the actor and director, wanted to become a pilot in his youth and tried to enter a flight school, but he was not accepted because of his small height (163 cm). He learned to fly an airplane on the set of a movie and thus realized his cherished dream.

Go and look

• Rating IMDB – 8.4
• Genre: Drama, war, history
• USSR production / 1985
• Worldwide gross: $96,908
• Directed by Elem Klimov
• Cast: Alexei Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Lubomiras Laucevičius, Vladas Bagdonas, Juri Lumiste, Victor Lorentz, Kazimir Rabetsky, Evgeny Tilicheev, Alexander Berda, G. Veltz

A Belarusian teenager, Flyora, digs up a carbine in the sand and goes off to join the partisans in defiance of his mother’s prohibition. Here he meets a girl named Glasha. Soon the Germans fire on the camp. Fleur and Glasha escape from the forest and return to the village. However, escaping from the horror that the Nazis are spreading everywhere seems impossible.

Director Elem Klimov understood that his film was very violent. Will they be able to watch it? – he asked Ales Adamovich, the author of the screenplay. He replied: Let them not watch. But we must leave it behind – as a testimony of the war, as a plea for peace.

The Dawns Are Quiet Here

• Rating IMDB – 8.1
• Genre: Drama, war, history
• USSR production / 1972
• Directed by Stanislav Rostotsky
• Cast: Elena Drapeko, Ekaterina Markova, Olga Ostroumova, Irina Shevchuk, Irina Dolganova, Andrey Martynov, Lyudmila Zaitseva, Alla Meshcheryakova, Alexei Chernov, Viktor Avdyushko

Stanislav Rostotsky’s The Dawns Are Quiet Here takes a special place among the Soviet films about the war of 1941-1945. The film is about young anti-aircraft gunner girls, who put up an unequal fight against the Nazis.

The events take place in the forests of Karelia. Five girl volunteers under the leadership of Petty Officer Fedot Vaskov go on a mission to neutralize the German saboteurs. There are supposed to be only two Nazis, but they number sixteen Hitlerites.

The director Stanislav Rostotsky spent five hours convincing the young actresses to appear naked in the bathhouse in one of the scenes. He explained the importance of this fragment in the film as follows: I want to show that not just people are killed, but women, young and beautiful, who must live and continue the lineage.

Two comrades were serving

• Rating IMDB – 7.9
• Genre: Drama, comedy, war
• USSR production / 1968
• Directed by Evgeny Karelov
• Cast: Oleg Yankovsky, Rolan Bykov, Anatoly Papanov, Nikolai Kryuchkov, Alla Demidova, Vladimir Vysotsky, Iya Savvina, Nikolai Burlyaev, Pyotr Krylov, Rostislav Yankovsky

The plot unfolds under the conditions of the Civil War. In 1920, the White Guard troops are blockaded in the Crimea. The Red Army prepares to attack. Red Army soldiers Andrei Nekrasov and Ivan Karyakin are sent on a mission. Nekrasov, a former photographer, is assigned to photograph the location of the enemy troops with a film camera. The Red Army men must fly in an airplane to take pictures from above.

The authors of the script tried to use the film to find their acquaintances from the Gulag. For example, one of the characters, Lieutenant Alexander Nikitich Brusentsov, was given the surname, first name, patronymic and rank of a real person.

Destiny

• Rating IMDB – 7.5
• Genre: Drama, melodrama, military
• USSR production / 1977
• Directed by Evgeny Matveev
• Cast: Evgeny Matveev, Zinaida Kiriyenko, Olga Ostroumova, Yuri Yakovlev, Valeria Zaklunnaya, Algimantas Masyulis, Vadim Spiridonov, Vladimir Samoilov, Georgy Yumatov, Alexander Potapov

A continuation of the story begun in the film Love on Earth. There comes the Great Patriotic War. Zakhar Deryugin goes to the front, gets captured, but manages to escape. He finds himself in the ranks of partisans. At that time Frosya, Deryugin’s wife, faces trials under occupation. She will have to avenge her son and other loved ones who suffered from the Nazis.

The film reads an excerpt from Robert Rozhdestvensky’s poem Chronicle, and also plays the song Echoes of Love, performed by Anna German and Lev Leshchenko.

Battalions asking for fire

• Rating IMDB – 7.9
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1985
• Directed by Alexander Bogolyubov, Vladimir Chebotarev
• Cast: Alexander Zbruev, Borislav Brondukov, Vadim Spiridonov, Oleg Efremov, Alexander Galibin, Elena Popova, Nikolay Karachentsov, Igor Sklyar, Gennady Frolov, Vladimir Kashpur

In 1943 the Soviet troops had to overcome the most important stage of the war – the crossing of the Dnieper River. The events taking place at the Bukrinsky bridgehead, south of Kiev, are reflected in the film.

Two battalions commanded by Captain Maksimov and Major Bulbanyuk are given the task of crossing the river. Their goal is to create a bridgehead to secure the division’s offensive. However, during the course of the assignment, the command’s plans unexpectedly change.

The film is based on the book of the same name by Yuri Bondarev. The plot of the story is conveyed very accurately, with only minor digressions.

Twenty Days Without War

• Rating IMDB – 7.8
• Genre: Drama, melodrama, military
• USSR production / 1976
• Directed by Alexey German
• Cast: Yuri Nikulin, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Alexey Petrenko, Angelina Stepanova, Ekaterina Vasilyeva, Nikolai Grinko, Luciena Ovchinnikova, Mikhail Kononov, Liya Akhedzhakova, Rashid Sadykov

In the winter of 1943, Vasily Lopatin, a correspondent for Krasnaya Zvezda, who is no longer a young man, is sent to the deep rear on the editor’s assignment. In Tashkent, he is to become a consultant to a film crew, which is working on a film based on his sketches. Here he also has to visit the family of a fallen comrade. He does not yet know that in these 20 days without war he will experience unusually vivid feelings.

The role of Nika considered actresses Alla Demidova, Alice Freindlikh, Zinaida Slavina, Larissa Malevannaya, but ultimately approved Ludmila Gurchenko.

In war as in war

• Rating IMDB – 8.0
• Genre: War, drama
• USSR production / 1968
• Director by Victor Tregubovich
• Cast: Mikhail Kononov, Oleg Borisov, Fedor Odinokov, Viktor Pavlov, Mikhail Gluzsky, Valentin Zubkov, Yuri Dubrovin, Boris Tabarovsky, German Kolushkin, Boris Arakelov

The young lieutenant Maleshkin had just graduated from military school and was already assigned to command a self-propelled (moving artillery unit) crew. Maleshkin’s subordinates are experienced fighters, and the lieutenant has yet to earn his authority. The battery commander keeps a close eye on the newcomer, whose crew constantly gets into trouble.

The film was filmed near the Czechoslovakian border and involved military personnel from the Precarpathian District. According to the recollections of cameraman Eugene Mezentsev, one night the rumbling of tanks could be heard outside the hotel windows for a long time. In the morning it was announced that Soviet troops had entered Czechoslovakia. And the BBC radio station reported that the concentration of large tank formations near the Soviet border was carried out under the guise of filming the picture At war, as at war.

Ivan’s childhood

• Rating IMDB – 8.0
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1962
• Worldwide gross $18,047
• Director by Andrey Tarkovsky
• Cast: Nikolai Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeny Zharikov, Stepan Krylov, Nikolai Grinko, Dmitry Milyutenko, Valentina Malyavina, Irma Raush, Andrei Konchalovsky, Ivan Savkin

Among the best Soviet war films is Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Ivan’s Childhood. Ivan’s mother and sister were killed by the Nazis, and his father, a border guard, was killed at the front. The boy decides to avenge his relatives. He sets out to join the Soviet soldiers.

After crossing the swamp, he enters the location of the Soviet troops. Lieutenant Galtsev cannot believe that the boy managed to sneak past the Germans. They want to send Ivan to a Suvorov school, but he intends to stay on the front line.

The film originally had a different director, cast and crew. However, at the Hudson Board the footage was criticized. Then Andrei Tarkovsky suggested that another picture be filmed again, only the script remained the same, but it was reworked as well.

Climbing

• Rating IMDB – 8.2
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1976
• Director by Larisa Shepitko
• Cast: Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Anatoly Solonitsyn, Sergey Yakovlev, Lyudmila Polyakova, Victoria Goldentul, Maria Vinogradova, Nikolay Sektimenko, Sergey Kanishchev, Vladimir Laptev

Two Belarusian partisans go to get food for their unit. One of them is a military man named Rybak, the other a math teacher named Sotnikov. In the village they take a sheep from the local headman, who works for the Nazis.

On their way back the Germans notice them, and as a result of the exchange of fire Sotnikov is wounded. They manage to hide for some time in one of the houses of the occupied village. However, the hardest trials lie ahead.

Director Larisa Shepitko was looking for little-known actors for the film in order to create unique characters not overshadowed by past roles. Therefore, she had to turn down Andrei Myagkov, Nikolai Gubenko and Vladimir Vysotsky.

Remember your name

• Rating IMDB – 7.2
• Genre: Drama, military
• Production USSR, Poland / 1974
• Director by Sergei Kolosov
• Cast: Lyudmila Kasatkina, Lyudmila Ivanova, Tadeusz Borovsky, Ryszard Khanin, Vladislav Astakhov, Lilia Davidovich, Vladimir Ivashov, Leon Nemchik, Lyubov Sokolova, Pavel Vinnik

The Soviet-Polish film is based on a true story. On the first day of the war, June 22, 1941, Zina Vorobieva gives birth to baby Gena. Some time later they find themselves in the German concentration camp of Auschwitz, located in Poland.

The mother and her baby are moved to different barracks, Zina comes to feed her son at every opportunity. When Soviet troops approach Auschwitz, Zina and other prisoners are sent to another camp. However, the woman is determined to find her child.

The role of Zina was played by Ludmila Kasatkina, the wife of the film’s director. Secretly from her husband she went on a strict diet to fit the role of an Auschwitz prisoner. She managed to lose 12 kilograms, because of this she fainted more than once during the filming.

They fought for their country

• Rating IMDB – 7.8
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1975
• Director by Sergei Bondarchuk
• Cast: Vasily Shukshin, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Sergei Bondarchuk, Georgy Burkov, Yuri Nikulin, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolai Gubenko, Andrei Rostotsky, Nikolai Volkov, Nikolai Shutko

In July 1942, a battle-weary Soviet rifle regiment is forced to retreat to Stalingrad. During a halt, the soldiers bathe and catch crayfish. One of the soldiers goes into a nearby village. He intends to ask the locals for a bucket and salt for the crayfish. However, the conversation with the village’s elderly woman turns out to be difficult, as the soldiers, retreating, leave the villagers unprotected.

The task of the Soviet fighters is not an easy one – to capture and hold the height. Against them are German tanks and bombs. But the soldiers are ready to stand until the end.

The film was directed by Sergei Bondarchuk and based on Mikhail Sholokhov’s work of the same name.

The role of Private Lopakhin was the last one for Vasily Shukshin, he died during the filming.

The Fate of a Man

• Rating IMDB – 8.0
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1959
• Director by Sergei Bondarchuk
• Cast: Sergei Bondarchuk, Pavel Polunin, Zinaida Kirienko, Pavel Volkov, Yuri Averin, Kirill Alekseev, Pavel Vinnikov, Evgeny Teterin, Anatoly Chemodurov, Lev Borisov

At the beginning of the war, Andrei Sokolov goes to the front. In 1942 he finds himself in German captivity and bravely endures the horrors of a concentration camp. Sokolov manages to escape, he reaches his own people, and now he is back at the front line. Soon he learns that his family members are dead. It seems impossible to survive such a blow, but after the war life gives him a chance for happiness.

The film was the debut for director Sergei Bondarchuk and was awarded numerous prizes, including at international film festivals.

Ballad of a Soldier

• Rating IMDB – 8.2
• Genre: Drama, melodrama, military
• USSR production / 1959
• Director by Grigory Chukhrai
• Cast: Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko, Antonina Maksimova, Nikolai Kryuchkov, Evgeny Urbansky, Elza Lezhdey, Alexander Kuznetsov, Evgeny Teterin, Valentina Markova, Maria Kremneva

A young soldier, Alexei Skvortsov, knocked out two Nazi tanks. They want to award him an order, but Alexei has another dream. He asks to be released for a few days to see his mother.

A series of events, meetings and partings await him on the way home. He manages to see his mother only for a short time. Alexei promises to return, but he is destined to remain a Russian soldier forever.

Actor Vladimir Ivashov named his son Alexei in honor of the main character he played in the film.

The Living and the Dead

• Rating IMDB – 7.6
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1963
• Director by Alexander Stolper
• Cast: Kirill Lavrov, Anatoly Papanov, Oleg Efremov, Mikhail Ulyanov, Oleg Tabakov, Evgeny Samoilov, Boris Chirkov, Viktor Avdyushko, Alexey Glazyrin, Lyudmila Krylova

The first months of the Great Patriotic War, the most difficult for the country, are reflected in a film based on the novel by Konstantin Simonov. A war correspondent, Ivan Sintsov, is on leave when he learns that war has broken out. He goes to his unit, but he fails to get there.

At first he is taken to another war newspaper, then finds himself surrounded. The Soviet army is retreating. At some point, however, he meets a man who has no intention of retreating to the Nazis.

One of the film’s characters, Mishka Weinstein, had a real-life prototype – Konstantin Simonov’s comrade-in-arms, Red Star photographer Mikhail Bernstein.

Hot Snow

• Rating IMDB – 6.9
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1972
• Director by Gavriil Egiazarov
• Cast: Georgy Zhzhonov, Anatoly Kuznetsov, Boris Tokarev, Vadim Spiridonov, Tamara Sedelnikova, Nikolai Eremenko Jr., Ara Babadzhanyan, Yuri Nazarov, Alexei Pankin, Valentin Grachev

In 1942, a large group of Nazi troops is encircled near Stalingrad. The enemy forms a tank fist to break through the ring. The Soviet soldiers must stop the Germans at any cost.

The soldiers of the battery and rifle battalion heroically hold back the enemy. The enemy in this battle suffered heavy losses, but the next day it turned out that only seven of the Soviet soldiers were left – those who were able to move.

The shooting of the film took place in the Novosibirsk region. Scenes with a tank battle were filmed at the Shilovsky proving ground.

Liberation

• Rating IMDB – 7.4
• Genre: Drama, melodrama, military
• Production USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Germany (GDR), Italy / 1968
• Worldwide gross: $9,424
• Director by Yuri Ozerov
• Cast: Mikhail Ulyanov, Nikolai Olyalin, Larisa Golubkina, Fritz Dietz, Peter Sturm, Yuri Kamorny, Bukhuti Zakariadze, Vladlen Davydov, Viktor Avdyushko, Vladislav Strzhelchik

Five parts of the epic are devoted to different episodes of the Great Patriotic War. In the first film “The Fiery Arc” events take place during the Battle of Kursk in 1943.

The second film, “The Breakthrough,” shows footage of the liberation of Belgorod and Orel, as well as the crossing of the Dnieper. The Soviet troops created a bridgehead on the right bank of the river to divert the attention of the enemy. The soldiers were encircled and almost all were killed, but the main characters manage to escape from the ring.

In the third part, The Direction of the Main Attack, events take place between December 1943 and the beginning of the liberation of Poland. There is a scene in the film where General Vatutin is mortally wounded by the Germans (in fact, Vatutin was killed by Ukrainian nationalists).

The fourth film, The Battle for Berlin, shows events unfolding on the outskirts of the German capital. The Soviet army gets to capture Berlin before the Allies do.

Part Five, “The Final Storm,” is about the capture of Berlin. The Soviet soldiers not only engage in combat battles with the enemy, they rescue the inhabitants of the city during the flooding of the subway.

The shooting of the film took place under the supervision of the CPSU Central Committee. The first film was criticized by Marshal Grechko and General Epishev. The director Yuri Ozerov remade the first part four times.

Aty-baty, there were soldiers…

• Rating IMDB – 7.7
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1976
• Director by Leonid Bykov
• Cast: Leonid Bykov, Vladimir Konkin, Elena Shanina, Leonid Bakshtaev, Evgenia Uralova, Nikolai Grinko, Ivan Gavrilyuk, Nikolai Sektimenko, Otabek Ganiev, Natalia Naum

Eighteen Komsomol members stopped German tanks at the cost of their lives. It happened on March 18, 1944. Thirty years later, on March 18, 1974, their children will gather at the site of the old battles, at the station Podbednya, to honor the memory of their relatives.

Konstantin Svyatkin and Anna Velenstovich – children of young heroes who died at the station Podbednya. The film will tell about their fathers’ heroic deeds in the distant 1944.

For director Leonid Bykov, who also starred in the title role, this film was his last. On April 11, 1979, Leonid Bykov died in a car accident.

Roadside checks

• Rating IMDB – 7.9
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1971
• Director by Alexei German
• Cast: Rolan Bykov, Anatoly Solonitsyn, Vladimir Zamansky, Oleg Borisov, Fyodor Odinokov, Gennady Dyudyaev, Maya Bulgakova, Nikolay Burlyaev, Viktor Pavlov, Yuri Dubrovin

In the winter of 1942 it was not easy for the partisan detachments – they had to survive in harsh conditions and at the same time to fight the enemy constantly. Lieutenant Ivan Lokotkov, the leader of a partisan detachment, makes a difficult decision. He entrusts the repentant traitor Lazarev with an important task – to help capture a German train with food. The fascists know Lazarev by sight, so the operation has a chance of success.

Director Alexei German made a film based on his father’s book Operation Happy New Year. The Goskino criticized the film and sent it to the shelf. The film was released 15 years later, in 1986.

Officers

• Rating IMDB – 7.5
• Genre: Drama, military, melodrama
• USSR production / 1971
• Director by Vladimir Rogovoy
• Cast: Georgy Yumatov, Vasily Lanovoy, Alina Pokrovskaya, Alexander Voevodin, Natalya Rychagova, Vladimir Druzhnikov, Andrey Gromov, Yuri Sorokin, Shadzhan Akmukhamedov, Evgeny Vesnik

The story is about the friendship between two servicemen, who remembered all their lives the words of their commander: There is such a profession – defending one’s Motherland. The film opens with the events of the early 1920s. Alexei Trofimov and his wife Lyuba are sent to serve in Central Asia. There he gets acquainted with Ivan Varavva. They are to fight the local armed groups.

Fate has prepared a lot of trials for the friends. But almost half a century later they are still friends, and Alexei’s grandson Ivan will also become a soldier.

One of the scenes in the film shows the military department where Ivan Varavva served. However, in reality the building is the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University.

Chronicle of a Diving Bomber

• Rating IMDB – 7.6
• Genre: Military
• USSR production / 1967
• Directed by Nahum Birman
• Cast: Yuri Tolubeev, Gennady Saifulin, Oleg Dal, Lev Weinstein, Alexander Grave, Pyotr Shcherbakov, Georgy Korolchuk, Leonid Reutov, Nikolai Trofimov, German Kolushkin

The young pilots of Arkhiptsev’s crew are real heroes. But in between sorties they are ordinary guys, cheerful, cheerful, desperate. They drive a tin can through the field, drink Chassis Liquor. The original drink was made by the radio gunner Zhenya Sobolevsky of raspberry syrup and antifreeze. However, jokes aside, when the crew is tasked with reconnaissance of an enemy airfield.

After watching the movie, some servicemen tried to make liquor according to Sobolevsky’s recipe. They used brake fluid as the basis. Such experiments often led to severe consequences, as brake fluid is very toxic.

Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha

• Rating IMDB – 7.6
• Genre: Melodrama, comedy, military
• USSR production / 1967
• Director by Vladimir Motyl
• Cast: Oleg Dal, Galina Figlovskaya, Mikhail Kokshenov, Pavel Morozenko, Georgy Shtil, Mark Bernes, Adolf Ilyin, Lyubov Malinovskaya, Vladimir Fedorov, Nelli Gutsol-Ilyina

Private Zhenya Kolyshkin, a Moscow intellectual, finds it difficult to fit into the atmosphere of everyday military life. He constantly gets into stories, causing headaches for the unit commander. The acquaintance with the signaller Zhenechka Zemlyanikina turns Kolyshkin’s life upside down. The young people start to have tender feelings for each other.

The idea to make a film about an intelligent young man at war came to director Vladimir Motyl when he read Bulat Okudzhava’s work Be Healthy, Schoolboy! The director turned to the poet, and together they developed the script.

Lark

• Rating IMDB – 7.2
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production / 1964
• Director by Nikita Kurikhin, Leonid Menaker
• Cast: Vyacheslav Gurenkov, Gennady Yukhtin, Valery Pogoreltsev, Valentins Skulme, Bruno Oja, Erwin Abel, Janice Cutlaps, Heino Mandry, Gunar Placens, Olev Tinn

The action takes place in the summer of 1942 in Nazi Germany. The Germans, working to improve their anti-tank systems, shoot at live targets. The targets are captured Soviet tanks, the crews of which are captured tank crewmen. One of the crews manages to escape. The T-34 tank is driven by mechanic Ivan.

The film is based on a real fact. The author of the script, Sergei Orlov, read a story in Komsomolskaya Pravda about how captive Soviet tankers on the T-34 escaped from the firing range where the Nazis were conducting tests.

Before dawn

• Rating IMDB – 6.9
• Genre: Action, military
• Production USSR / 1989
• Directed by Yaropolk Lapshin
• Cast: Valery Ryzhakov, Alexander Pankratov-Cherny, Evgeny Mironov, Oleg Korchikov, Konstantin Stepankov, Vyacheslav Kirilichev, Raisa Ryazanova, Igor Varpa, Viktor Uralsky, Igor Golovin

The beginning of the war, the hot summer of 1941. A group of political prisoners and criminals are transported by train to the rear. Suddenly the train is attacked by an air raid. The only survivors are a convicted party worker, a criminal and a young NKVD lieutenant who accompanied the prisoners.

The lieutenant is going to take his companions to the place of punishment, but fate decides otherwise. They all come together when the time comes to fight back against the common enemy.

Evgeny Mironov in the film Before Dawn played his first major role.

The Afghan Fracture

• Rating IMDB – 7.0
• Genre: Drama, military
• USSR production, Italy / 1991
• Director by Vladimir Bortko
• Cast: Michele Placido, Tatiana Dogileva, Mikhail Zhigalov, Philip Yankovsky, Alexei Serebryakov, Nina Ruslanova, Hashim Rakhimov, Kiem Yakub, Artur Uvarov, Yuri Kuznetsov

Shortly before the Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan, Nikita Steklov, the son of a high-ranking soldier, is assigned to a paratrooper unit. The regiment commander orders Major Bandura to keep an eye on the newly arrived lieutenant.

But soon, in a desperate firefight with the enemy, the inexperienced Steklov is badly wounded. The squad is given a new responsible task by the command, but Bandura is removed from the operation.

The film was filmed in 1990 in Tajikistan. In February, mass riots broke out in Dushanbe, with the film crew at the center. The film’s administrator Nikita Matrosov was killed. Filming was urgently moved to Syria and Crimea.

Scouts

• Rating IMDB – 6.5
• Genre: Adventure, military
• USSR production / 1968
• Director by Igor Samborsky, Alexey Shvachko
• Cast: Ivan Mykolaichuk, Leonid Bykov, Konstantin Stepankov, Alexei Smirnov, Lyudmila Marchenko, Vladimir Yemelyanov, Valentin Chernyak, Vitaly Doroshenko, Valentin Dukler, Dmitry Franko

The Great Patriotic War is nearing its end, the year is 1945. The city on the Danube River is on the front line. Fascists mined the river, because of this the inhabitants, left without food, suffer. In addition, the mines interfere with the advance of the Soviet troops. The scouts are given an important, but extremely difficult task – to obtain from the enemy a map, on which the mined areas are marked.

Actor Alexei Smirnov, who played the role of Vasya Sigayev, was himself a scout during the war. Viktor Kalganov, a scout and commander of the Danube Flotilla detachment, advised the film crew. The film is based on real events.

Commander of the lucky Shchuka

• Rating IMDB – 6.7
• Genre: Action, military
• USSR production / 1972
• Director by Boris Volchek
• Cast: Pyotr Velyaminov, Donatas Banionis, Elena Dobronravova, Mikhail Volkov, Vladimir Kashpur, Svetlana Sukhovey, Stanislav Borodokin, Pavel Makhotin, Shota Mshveneridze, Alexander Borisov

Sailors of the Northern Fleet were engaged in heroic battles with the enemy during the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet submarine Shch-721 accounted for many Nazi ships.

The submarine Alexei Strogov is called lucky for its crew’s ability to get out of seemingly the most difficult situations. In addition, the commander develops a new method of torpedo attack, despite the criticism of his colleagues.

The film’s script was developed on the basis of real events that occurred during the war in the Northern Fleet. The image of Alexei Strogov became a collective one.

Heroes of Shipka

• Rating IMDB – 7.3
• Genre: Drama, military, history
• Production USSR, Bulgaria / 1954
• Director by Sergei Vasiliev
• Cast: Ivan Pereverzev, Viktor Avdyushko, Georgy Yumatov, Konstantin Sorokin, Petko Karlukovsky, Apostol Karamitev, Anatoly Alekseev, Evgeny Samoilov, Alexander Smirnov, Nikolai Massalitinov

The events of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878 are unfolded in the film. In those years, Russians and Bulgarians united to repel Turkey. Russia declares war in order to achieve the liberation of the Slavic peoples from the Ottoman yoke established on the Balkan Peninsula. The Russian-Bulgarian army wins major victories and moves toward Istanbul.

The filming took place in Bulgaria exactly in the places where the real historical events depicted in the film took place. Thousands of Soviet and Bulgarian servicemen were involved in the filming.